BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Purdue divers Steele Johnson, Samm Reese, Joe Cifelli and Emily Meaney all auto-qualified for the NCAA Championships on the opening day of the Zone C Championships.
Johnson, Reese, Cifelli and Meaney each finished among the top six in Thursday's springboard events. Johnson was second and Cifelli fifth in the men's 1-meter competition, from which the top five earned automatic-qualifying berths to the NCAA Championships. Reese was fourth and Meaney sixth in the women's 3-meter competition, which advanced the top nine to NCAAs as auto-qualifiers.
By auto-qualifying on day one, Johnson, Reese, Cifelli and Meaney only need to finish among the top 12 in their upcoming events to add them to their schedules at the national championship meet. Cifelli and Johnson qualified for NCAAs for the second time in their careers. Reese, a junior, finally broke through after falling just short of an NCAAs bid her first two seasons. Meaney made it as a freshman even though she is at her best on the platforms.
Freshman Brandon Loschiavo finished sixth on 1-meter in his debut at Zones. That left him just one spot shy of an automatic-qualifying berth. However, if he's able to auto-qualify on 3-meter or platform, he'll be able to compete on 1-meter at NCAAs. The top seven auto-qualify in both of the upcoming men's events. At Big Tens, he took third on the platforms, which is his top event.
Morgan Meixner was 10th in the prelims to advance to the final, but her score dipped by 22.05 points and she dropped to 14th place. Scores carry over from the prelims to finals. The sophomore will need to be among the top eight Friday on 1-meter to qualify for the national championship meet.
Cifelli improved on his list score by 34.35 in the final to keep firm control over the fifth and final auto-qualifying bid on 1-meter. Loschiavo was also sixth after the prelims, but saw his score dip by 14.45 points in the final.
Johnson was able to post a pair of list scores above 400 points to easily rank among the top five, all of whom were Big Ten divers.
Reese reached the 300-point mark on both of her lists, finishing in fourth place in both the prelims and final. Meaney's list score dipped a bit in the final (by 15.6 points) after she missed her fourth-round dive. But she responded with her best individual-round score (60.75) of the entire day, which essentially assured her of a top-nine finish.
The Zone C Diving Championships continue Friday with women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter. Action begins at 1 p.m.
NCAA ZONE C DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAY ONE AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEN'S 1-METER (TOP 5 FINISHERS)
Michael Hixon, Indiana
Steele Johnson, Purdue
Colin Zeng, Ohio State
James Connor, Indiana
Joe Cifelli, Purdue
WOMEN'S 3-METER (TOP 9 FINISHERS)
Pei Lin, Miami (Ohio)
Jessica Parratto, Indiana
Michal Bower, Indiana
Samm Reese, Purdue
Molly Fears, Louisville
Emily Meaney, Purdue
Rebecca Hamperian, Kentucky
Alessandra Murphy, Michigan
Keegan McCaffrey, Michigan
PURDUE DIVERS, MEN'S 1-METER
Steele Johnson, 813 -- Finished 2nd (409.75 Finals, 403.25 Prelims)
Joe Cifelli, 756.85 -- Finished 5th (395.6 Finals, 361.25 Prelims)
Brandon Loschiavo, 681.45 -- Finished 6th (333.5 Finals, 347.95 Prelims)
PURDUE DIVERS, WOMEN'S 3-METER
Samm Reese, 607.95 -- Finished 4th (300.3 Finals, 307.65 Prelims)
Emily Meaney, 597.9 -- Finished 6th (291.15 Finals, 306.75 Prelims)
Morgan Meixner, 551.75 -- Finished 14th (264.85 Finals, 286.9 Prelims)
AUTOMATIC QUALIFYING SPOTS TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FROM ZONE C
Top 12 in an event also qualify for NCAAs if he or she has already auto-qualified
1-Meter - Women: 8 // Men: 5
3-Meter - Women: 9 // Men: 7
Platform - Women: 6 // Men 7
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in springboard prelims, Top 12 in platform prelims advance to finals
Friday at 1 p.m. - Women's 1-Meter, Men's 3-Meter
Saturday at 11 a.m. - Women's Platform, Men's Platform to follow